Pulis will say cheers to Sparky

TONY PULIS hopes to finally settle his long-running feud with Mark Hughes over
a drink tomorrow.

The pair fell out two years ago when Hughes, then boss of Fulham, refused to
shake Pulis’ hand following a Carling Cup tie which Stoke won 2-0 at the
Britannia Stadium.

Hughes was aggrieved at what he saw as an “unnecessary” challenge from Andy
Wilkinson on Mousa Dembele late in the game.

Three months later, Pulis spurned Hughes’ offer of a handshake after Fulham
won 2-0 in the league at the Britannia.

The two men did finally come to their senses in early 2011, when Fulham again
defeated Stoke 2-0 in the return league clash at Craven Cottage.

At the end of last season Hughes, by now in charge of QPR, asked Pulis to stay
for a drink but given Rangers had beaten Stoke with a late winner in what
was their final home game to aid their relegation cause, the latter thought
better of it.

However, Pulis will have no qualms in extending an invitation to Hughes
following tomorrow’s clash at the Britannia.

He said: “We had a little bit of a spat. It was two Celts having a spat and
there’s nothing wrong with that.

“There will be absolutely no problems tomorrow. I think Mark will be more
concerned about getting QPR sorted out and me the same with my team than
anything between us.

“But you have your moments in sport. We’re both competitive people.

“He did invite me for a drink down at QPR last season and he’ll be invited up
for a drink following tomorrow’s game. That’s the way it is.”

Asked whether he took up the offer in May, Pulis added: “No, I didn’t because
they got the points to help them stay up and it was chaos there afterwards.

“It was also in London, close to Bournemouth [where Pulis lives], so I shot
off straight after the game.”

Tomorrow’s game looks a must-win for both clubs — Stoke are 15th with just one
win from their opening 10 matches and QPR are one place off the bottom of
the table and still searching for their first win.

But at such an early stage in the season, Pulis is more concerned his side
turn performances into results.

He added: “We need a break. Look at Norwich’s goal [in last Saturday’s 1-0
defeat] where the ball comes off the top of his [Bradley Johnson’s] head and
flies into the top corner. We need something like that.

“The disappointing thing is we’ve players who have goals in them. The one
thing I didn’t think we’d have a problem with this season is scoring goals.

“But things like this happen so you have to make sure everybody stays nice and
calm, keeps the belief, keeps the faith.”

While Stoke are hovering above the bottom three themselves, Pulis at least
feels QPR and Hughes will avoid the drop this season.

He added: “I don’t think anybody would have said at the start of the season
QPR would be down there with the players Mark has brought in.

“But there is still a long way to go, a lot of games for them to pick up
points.

“I’m saying now that I’ll be very surprised if they are down there come the
end of the season.”

Pulis will be without winger Rory Delap, who faces a hernia operation next
week, while striker Michael Owen is again sidelined with a hamstring
problem.